Parallel Universe Computing Challenge Comes To SC13

November 1, 2013

Nov. 1 — In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the SC conference, Intel Corporation will produce a game show-style competition in which teams will face off live at SC13 to compete for a $25,000 prize which will be donated the winning team’s charity.

The Intel Parallel Universe Computing Challenge is an 8-team single elimination tournament designed to raise awareness of the importance of parallelization for improving the performance of technical computing applications.

According to Mike Bernhardt, the game show host, “Think of this as a knowledge challenge program much like a television trivia game show, but with an unusual twist of watching contestants modify software code live to raise awareness of the ease of use and benefits of parallel programming, while reminding attendees of the rich legacy of the SC Conference history.”

In the spirit of the HPC community giving so much benefit to society, the teams will be playing for selected charities, with a grand prize of $25,000 going to the winning team’s charity.

Audience members will also be given a chance to answer SC conference trivia questions and win prizes.

The Intel Parallel Universe Computing Challenge will take place at the Intel booth (#2701) in the SC13 exhibit hall Nov. 18-21 at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver.

Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, on the principle that large problems can be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently. It is a foundation of high performance supercomputers, which are used to take on the most complex and large-scale challenges facing the fields of science, national security, medicine and energy exploration, among others.

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